In many cases, patients in a hospital's intensive care unit must be connected to medical equipment or receive infusions. The equipment required to this end generally is stored on an equipment rack that is, for example, coupled to a wall-mounted or ceiling-mounted stand.
In order to ensure continued patient care while a patient is being transported inside a hospital, the patient must remain connected to the medical equipment that is used to treat the patient. Medical equipment is often supported on an equipment rack, and it can be necessary to remove the equipment from the rack to transport the equipment with the patient. The medical equipment can be, for example, an infusion unit that may be provided both in the operating theater and in intensive care units and that can be carried on a ceiling- or wall-mounted stand. The infusion unit can include pump rods, with several motor-driven infusion pumps or syringe pumps or simple gravity infusion bottles that are usually attached to the pump rods. To transport the patient with the medical equipment, an equipment rack (e.g., a rack for carrying an infusion unit) generally must be removed from a ceiling-mounted or wall-mounted stand and moved along with the hospital bed that accommodates the patient.
An infusion supply apparatus (e.g., as disclosed in German Patent document No. P 39 17 892) can include a tray with supply connections, and the tray can include, on the one hand, a connection to the stationary stand (i.e., the ceiling-mounted or wall-mounted stand) and, on the other hand, a connection to a mobile cart, both connections being detachable.
The mobile cart can include an arm on which the tray of the infusion supply apparatus can be supported. Transfer of the infusion supply apparatus from the stationary stand to the mobile cart can be achieved by moving the arm of the mobile cart underneath the tray of the infusion supply apparatus, so that said arm is arranged underneath the tray and engages the tray. Thereafter, the arm is lifted upwards slightly so that it carries the tray including the infusion supply apparatus. This principle is similar to the working method of a forklift. However, this solution is expensive in its construction and complicated in its handling.